7 restaurants to book your halal Chinese New Year feast

Jan 13, 2017 / Written by Halal in the City

Whether it’s for a family reunion dinner or a festive office lunch, these halal-certified kitchens dish out comprehensive menus meant for ringing in the Year of the Rooster. Some of these restaurants remain open throughout the Chinese New Year holidays and there are still available seats. Huat ah!

This no-frills spot in the Western heartlands has three menus ($238 to $468) depending on how big your party is. Ubiquitous items include abalone yusheng, Hong Kong-style steamed fish and seafood fried rice.

This year’s festive specials include the hotel buffet’s annual DIY yusheng station, steamed seafood with cordycep blossom and wagyu beef short ribs. Reunion dinner on the eve of Chinese New Year will cost from $128++ per person, while the first two days of Chinese New Year will set you back $68++ for lunch and $88 for dinner.

Every year, the award-winning hotel buffet restaurant busts out the most effort on their yusheng - this year’s no different. Called Rise of the Phoenix, the star dish is inspired by the Singapore-favourite chicken rice, with ingredients like crispy puffs made out of jasmine rice, barbecued chicken jerky, boneless chicken feet, chicken floss and deep-fried chicken skin crisps. Braised sea cucumber jelly, deep-fried cuttlefish, lobster sashimi, roasted pine nuts and golden egg yolk are included in the mix, to be doused with one-of-a-kind sauce made of ginger flower, lime leaves, rock sugar and honey. Abalone, salmon and tuna yusheng are also available if you like, for $68 to $138 each.

One of Singapore’s halal Japanese fine dining spots, Santaro at Amara Hotel offers three types of yusheng sets - Happiness containing salmon, maguro and ika ($68); Prosperity which also has scallop, whole fish and kampachi or yellowtail ($98) and Longevity which includes sweet prawn and surf clam ($168). The yusheng can also be ordered a la carte, but each set contains appetizers like chawanmushi, tuna potato salad, saba fish and mixed tempura to fill you up so you might as well.

Segar

PHOTO: SEGAR VILLAGE'S FACEBOOK PAGE

The Segar halal zichar chain has two outlets and both Segar Restaurant and Segar Village offer Chinese New Year menus, priced at $228 (four to six diners), $388 (eight to 10 diners) and $498 (eight to 10 diners). They both serve abalone yusheng as well, so which one you go to depends on which of the other dishes you like best and where in Singapore most of your folks will be.

If you’re looking to really feed the gang, go for Hyatt’s Singaporean halal buffet, which for the festive season includes Chinese classics like Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, wok fried lobster and ee-fu noodle with shredded chicken. Children pay $48++ for lunch and dinner, while adults pay $68++ for lunch and $88++ for dinner. Yusheng will be served at every table.